Our opinion: Deaths of right, humpback whales cause for concern

Thursday

Sep 7, 2017 at 12:01 AM

For those concerned about the endangered North Atlantic right whale, these statistics are nothing less than alarming:

Since April, 13 right whales have been found dead off Cape Cod and Canada. There are only about 500 right whales left in the world, and more than half of them have been spotted in Cape Cod Bay this summer.

In April, a juvenile was hit by a ship and found drifting off Barnstable. This month, one carcass floated into Great Pond in Edgartown and another was spotted dead about 145 miles off Martha’s Vineyard. At least 10 have died in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada since June.

The average combined deaths of the animal in both Canada and the United States is about 3.8 per year.

The National Marine Fisheries Service estimates that 83 percent of the right whale population shows scarring from a prior or existing entanglement with fishing gear.

More than 40 humpback whales have died between North Carolina and Maine in 2016.

So what’s going on?

Several factors may be in play here, including entanglements, ship strikes and toxic algae. Is climate change playing a role as well?

To answer these and other questions, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced last week that it has launched an investigation into the recent deaths of the right whales with its partner agency in Canada.

“Thirteen animals is a lot of animals when you’re talking about a population of less than 500,” said Sean Hayes, protected species branch chief at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

As a result, NOAA declared an “Unusual Mortality Event,” which allows the federal agencies to prioritize and allocate more resources to determining the increased deaths and explore possible solutions. The declaration allows the agencies to dip into a contingency fund to assist with the investigation.

Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, an “Unusual Mortality Event” is defined as “a stranding that is unexpected; involves a significant die-off of any marine mammal population; and demands immediate response.”

In April, NOAA launched an Unusual Mortality Event investigation into the deaths of humpback whales.

Many of the resources between the investigations into the right whale and humpback whales will overlap, according to Teri Rowles, NOAA’s Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Program coordinator.

Humpbacks, however, are not in nearly as critical state as the right whale, according to Charles “Stormy” Mayo, right whale habitat expert at the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies.

“I worry that something similar to the Gulf of St. Lawrence could happen here unless we’re on our toes,” he said.

Mayo said because the carcasses of the whales found off Cape Cod were in poor shape when found, it may be difficult to determine if toxins played a role in the deaths.

“I think that when you have a decreasing population and the number of the toxic algae (in Cape Cod Bay), there ought to be a little concern that something like that could happen even if that is not shown to be what did happen,” Mayo said.

Nevertheless, the primary concerns and threats to the right whales continue to be shipping and fishing vessel strikes and entanglements, according to Matthew Hardy, Aquatic Resources Management Division manager at Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

As a result, Mayo said he hoped regulations that help protect whales in Cape Cod Bay will be enforced in the waters that lead to the bay.

“All of those whales have to funnel into Cape Cod Bay, and beyond Cape Cod Bay there is a mixed bag of regulations,” Mayo said.

While the fishing industry has taken steps to make their lobster gear and gill nets and other fishing methods less harmful to whales, and federal officials have closed large areas to commercial fishing when they are present, Canadians are just in the beginning phases of drawing up a plan.

However, in response to the recent right whale deaths, the Canadians have shut down some fishing areas, ordered ships to slow down, and initiated increased surveillance, including aerial surveys.

In any case, we urge NOAA and its Canadian partner to accelerate their investigation before more right whales die.